- author, Emily McGarvey
- role, BBC News
-
The Conservative Party has said it would reinstate national service if it wins the general election.
Young people aged 18 can choose to either join the military full-time or volunteer one weekend each month to do community service.
The party is proposing a royal commission to work out the details, but the first teenagers are not due to take part until September 2025.
The cost is expected to be around £2.5 billion per year.
The scheme allows young people to work full-time for 12 months within the military or the UK’s cyber defence sector, learning about logistics, cyber security, procurement and civil response operations.
Another option is to volunteer in your local community one weekend a month, or 25 days a year, with organisations such as the fire service, police or NHS.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said he believed reinstating compulsory military service across the UK would help foster the “national spirit” that has emerged during the pandemic.
“This country is great, but generations of young people are being denied the opportunities and experiences they deserve, and there are forces that seek to divide our society in an increasingly uncertain world,” Mr Sunak said.
“I have a clear plan to address this issue and secure our future. I will introduce a new model of national service, creating a sense of shared purpose and renewed pride in our country among our young people.”
The Prime Minister said the measures would help young people “learn real-world skills, try new things and contribute to their communities and country”.
The Conservatives said the measures would help ensure that young people who are unemployed, out of education or training, and those disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system, are kept away from “lives of unemployment and crime”.
The party said national service would provide “valuable work experience” and “ignite a passion for a future career in healthcare, the public service, charities or the armed forces”.
A Labour spokesman said the announcement was “another desperate £2.5bn unfunded promise from the Conservatives who have already crashed the economy and sent mortgages soaring – and now they want more.”
“This is not a plan, it is a review costing billions of dollars, made necessary because the Conservative government has shrunk the army to its smallest size since Napoleon,” the spokesman said.
Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Richard Ford MP accused the Conservatives of cutting forces.
“If the Conservatives were serious about defence they would reverse these damaging cuts to our regular military rather than making massive cuts that would wipe out our world-class, professional army,” Ford said.
“Our military was once the envy of the world. The current Conservative government has cut forces and is planning to cut further the size of the Army.”
National Service was introduced after the Second World War in 1947 under the Labour government of Clement Attlee.
This meant that men between the ages of 17 and 21 had to serve in the military for 18 months.
The compulsory national service system ended in 1960.
Many European countries, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark, already have some form of conscription for their armed forces.
Conscription requires young men and women to don a uniform and serve in the military for a set period of time, meaning some of the population is undergoing military training and may be assigned to reserve units in the event of war.
Cuts to the British Army’s personnel have reduced its size from more than 100,000 in 2010 to around 73,000 by January 2024.
